Re: [AGA-sc] Treasurer's Report 1st 6 months 2004 (more or less) --v1.2

["S. Hieber" <shieber@yahoo.com>]

Good question. How do you want it to go?

In the report, I listed every type of transaction we've
done since Jan 1, 2004. So the question doesn't apply to
that. It's an issue of how do things get grouped, how are
cost centers/profit centers identified and transactions
allocatedt to those centers. There's no rule about how this
should be treated as far as this distinction goes. I mean
your question is not one that calls for an answer but that
calls for a decision -- as good empircal questions often
do. 

Let's look at revenues first. I'm inclined to treat
memberships as TAG revenue/TAG purchases; it's how most
people buy their TAGs. I know other stuff is involved in
membership but I don't think it's stuff that we'd care to
track -- for example, do we want to track how many people
purchased the ability to buy books free of shipping
charges?

WE could take membership revs and allocate them across
"free-shipping", convention registration eligibility, and
mail list availabilitity, and TAGs. But I think we'd be
tracking things that will get few questions.
 So I'd just as soon treat it as TAG purchases. Following
that, then, I'd treat membership related expenses as TAG
costs. In fact few receipts come marked as to what they are
for (or, to not dangle a preposition, as to to for what
they are). So generally, it's hard to categorize expenses
anyway.

And while we sell memberships and backissues in combos,
it's even harder to separate TAGs from membership.

But arguments could be made in the other direction.

Soon, I'd like to set a standard accounting system (ugh)
which I'm not sure I can do properly with Quicken, but
anyway, assuming I get that done, at that time I'll
probably lock in to how things are treated. Hopefully set
up before the new year so that form 2005 onward we'll have
real "books".

Btw, do people prefer getting reports as email attachments
or to get them off a web page?

sh

--- Cheryl Rogers <cheryl@wilstream.com> wrote:

> How are we differentiating "TAG" expenses from
> "membership" expenses?
> 
> For example, if I send letters to everyone who never
> renewed after TAG 17-2 
> (as I am about to do), in what category does that postage
> expense go?
> 
> Cheryl


=====
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Diana Walstad, author of _Ecology of the Planted Aquarium_ will discuss soil 
supplemented aquarium substrates at the 2004 AGA Convention.

Convention Details/Registration at aquatic-gardeners.org & gwapa.org
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